Girish Wagh, 47, got breakthroughs quite early in his career at Tata Motors that propelled his career into an orbit where Ratan Tata noticed him.Ketan Thakkar | ETAuto | Updated: February 06, 2018, 12:07 IST

Girish Wagh (R) Head, Product Line-Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, is modest enough to attribute his initial success to "beginner's luck". New Delhi:Girish Wagh will need more than “beginner’s luck” to sustain the green shoots of an early turnaround of Tata Motors’ bread and butter commercial vehicle business.

Girish Wagh, 47, got breakthroughs quite early in his career at Tata Motors that propelled his career into an orbit where Ratan Tata noticed him. And he headed its ambitious projects such as micro-truck Tata Ace and affordable people’s car Tata Nano, which promised a lot but failed to deliver.

Wagh took charge as head of Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle business in June last year, at a time when the company was reeling under record low market share and soaring losses. The firm’s standalone domestic business had posted losses of Rs 2,479 crore for 2016-17.

Tata Motors’ new chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran had called for urgent measures to arrest the downhill trundle or face consequences at the start of the new financial year. Managing director Guenter Butschek, in a strongly worded letter to employees in July, said it was a “crisis situation” and it was an “utmost emergency” to turn around operation. Highlighting the dismal performance of commercial vehicles (CV) business, he said it was time for the CV team to deliver.

That letter came just a fortnight after Wagh moved from the factory to replace Ravindra Pisharody as the head of the commercial vehicles (CV) unit.

To be under pressure is familiar territory for Wagh. “Pressure is something that cannot be wished away,” he told ET. “It is needed as it pushes people to deliver and ensure a better future.”

Remarkably, while it is still early days, Tata Motors seems to be on a journey towards a turnaround in its fortunes. In the first nine months of this financial year, the company has grown its volumes by 17%, a shade better than the market, leading to a revival in its market share. But then there is a strong tailwind and overall market has also seen the growth.

The plants are operating at peak capacity and Tata Motors has hired blue-collar workers and added shifts at various plants to meet higher demand.

The company on Monday reported standalone profit of Rs 183.7 crore in the third quarter ended December against loss of Rs 1,045.9 crore a year earlier on the back of strong performance by both passenger vehicles and CVs. For the first half of the current fiscal, it had posted standalone loss of Rs 732 crore.

Wagh is modest enough to attribute his initial success to “beginner’s luck”.

But many stakeholders, who have seen the evolution in the last nine months, said Wagh has hit the ground running, taking a series of measures to turn things around.

The company is likely to shave costs of over Rs 1,000 crore this financial year through a variety of cost optimisation initiatives, which will boost the bottom line significantly, they said.

The morale of the distribution network was low. Wagh has met most of the channel partners and increased margins by 10% to incentivise them to deliver more. The results are visible.

Almost three days of the week Wagh is out on the field meeting dealer partners, customers and truck drivers. “Engagement with our partners has helped us in bringing about right change so far,” he said.

The connect was missing six months back, a dealer told ET on condition of anonymity, adding that his team has become responsive after Wagh took charge. “They now understand our pain areas and are reacting quickly. Plus, he has been empowered to win back market share, so that helps us in winning the deal at a time discounts are running high,” the person said.

Wagh is also working on bridging the company’s critical product gap, which was identified as one of its biggest weaknesses.

He has completely revamped product planning as part of the new organisation structure, and put in place a setup which is constantly in touch with the market to identify any new opportunity. The division has already broadened its product pipeline significantly.

Apart from introducing the Bharat Stage (BS) IV range, Tata Motors has introduced 35 new variants to meet specific needs of transporters. In the current January-March quarter alone, more than 35 new offerings are likely to hit the market.

Tata Motors will showcase its new small CV platform at Auto Expo this week. The new platform will complement the Ace family and target the growing pick-up truck segment, which was a weak link at the company.

Tata Motors is also likely to launch a new line of light commercial vehicles under Ultra brand besides a 43-tonner 6-axle truck to meet the higher payload need of the market.

Tata Motors will also introduce a new range of diesel engine family called Turbotron in 3, 3.3 and 5-litre cubic capacity, which will power the light, intermediate and medium-duty commercial vehicles. These engine platforms are designed keeping in mind the upcoming BS VI norms.

While Wagh has put Tata Motors on the right path, experts point out that the firm has still a long way to go.

“Right now he has many things going for him — growing market, empowerment to buy market share, new products, etc., but then growth has been not dramatically higher than the market and in the last few months, there were hardly any gains in share,” a person in the know of development at Tata Motors told ET. “It will not be easy to sustain the momentum.”

The person also said Wagh is aggressive and demanding as a leader, which can sometimes unsettle the team. “While the numbers are moving in positive direction, he must ensure the team morale is positive and people don't leave,” the person said.

​​This comes as a surprise to the industry as Rakesh was recently elevated to the position of Directo Sales and Marketing which was the third promotion for him in six years of his tenure in the company.